Activities

The Vienna Secession Movement was founded in 1897 and was led by one of the greatest of all symbolist painters, Gustav Klimt. Over the years the Vienna Secession held a series of exhibitions that brought together a roll call of the international avant-garde. There was a particular emphasis on architecture and design. In this lecture Ben Street will show how the Vienna Secession played a major part in the broader art nouveau movement and the beginnings of modern design. In 1903 a design company was founded called the Wiener Werkstätte, inspired by the English Arts and Crafts movement. Its products are now museum pieces. Later major artists associated with the Vienna Secession include Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka two of the great pioneers of expressionism.